(1) Technical Field
The present invention relates to beverage containers, specifically to a lid type device for increasing the concentration of or containing volatile ester compounds within a wine glass.
(2) Background Art
Previously, devices used to prevent the dispersion of volatile ester compounds, also referred to as volatile esters or ester molecules, have been used primarily in the disciplines of chemistry, enology and biology.
In the field of chemistry, the traditional method of covering a container containing a compound that emits volatile esters has been through the use of the ‘watch glass’ cover. The watch glass covers noted above are concave and constructed from temperature resistant glass. Disadvantages of the watch glass reside in that they are bulky, breakable, relatively expensive to manufacture, and do not contain an effective lateral stabilization feature. In the absence of a lateral stabilization feature, the watch glass requires the use of both hands, one hand to hold the watch glass on the container while the other hand is used to swirl and agitate the aromatic compound inside the container to release additional volatile esters. The watch glass is saucer shaped which affords only the slightest lateral stabilization when placed on top of the container opening with the curved shape of the watch glass sitting just slightly inside the opening of the container. Furthermore, the coefficient of static friction for a watch glass on a glass beverage container is very low and always requires the use of two hands to retain the watch glass and swirl the beverage container.
In the field of enology, wine makers have employed the use of chemistry laboratory watch glasses placed on wine glasses as volatile ester containment lids. Lack of lateral stabilization requires the use of two hands to hold the watch glass securely, while swirling and agitating the wine in the glass to promote the release of volatile esters from the wine.
Additionally, in a sub-field of enology, wine education, wine instructors have employed the use of chemistry lab watch glasses as volatile ester containment lids placed on wine glasses. Again lack of lateral stabilization requires the use of two hands to hold the watch glass securely, while swirling and agitating the wine in the glass to promote the release of volatile esters.
In the field of biology one method for covering containers holding aromatic compounds has been the use of the Petri dish cover. While Petri dish covers are lighter, less bulky and less expensive to manufacture as compared to watch glasses they are still disadvantaged by their lack of a lateral stabilization feature. Additionally, Petri dishes are fragile since they are fabricated from thin inexpensive plastic. Low cost allows Petri dish covers to be a ‘one use’ disposable use model. Furthermore, the coefficient of static friction for a Petri dish cover on a glass beverage container is also very low, thus creating the disadvantage of requiring the use of two hands, one to retain the Petri dish cover and one to swirl the container holding the aromatic compound to promote the release of volatile esters.